On Drooling, Loving and Eaaat..ing!

On Drooling, Loving and Eaaat..ing!

Elizabeth Gilbert in her book ' Eat. Pray. Love' tells me that Italians are wonderful in enjoying themselves, unlike the Americans who question the ability to even enjoy and relax, Italians know how to ‘feeeel’ pleasure.

A drop of honey

That melts on a toast

Chiselled butter that caresses my tongue

Melted cheese that oozes out love

That my dear is palette dearly loved!

Gilbert writes:

“I walked home to my apartment and soft-boiled a pair of fresh brown eggs for my lunch. I peeled the eggs and arranged them on a plate beside the seven stalks of the asparagus (which were so slim and snappy they didn’t need to be cooked at all). I put some olives on the plate, too, and the four knobs of goat cheese I’d picked up yesterday from the formaggeria down the street, and two slices of pink, oily salmon. For dessert—a lovely peach, which the woman at the market had given to me for free and which was still warm from the Roman sunlight. For the longest time I couldn’t even touch this food because it was such a masterpiece of lunch, a true expression of the art of making something out of nothing. Finally, when I had fully absorbed the prettiness of my meal, I went and sat in a patch of sunbeam on my clean wooden floor and ate every bite of it, with my fingers, while reading my daily newspaper article in Italian. Happiness inhabited my every molecule”.

This I call sheer exquisiteness and delight in being and living that moment. I had a beautiful smile as I read these lines. There have been times when I would oh! so lovingly cook something for myself or my entire family ( like I made white pasta with olives today) and then the first bite in my mouth of lovely orange carrot, green capsicum and heavenly olive with pasta dipped in white sauce, would say “mmmmmmm…….”..

I’ll share a funny incident. It so happened that last year I visited Fastrax the first time. I had ordered a veg burger by some name (I don’t remember). I had gone there with my mentorship group and my mentor who was treating all of us. As soon as I took the first bite of the burger with melted cheese in it, I closed my eyes, forgetting other’s presence, and said ‘mmmmmm….’. A friend of mine said “it’s almost like you are having an orgasm!” and I gave her a biiiig smile. :D

What’s food if you don’t enjoy every bite of it?

What’s love if there is no passion in it?

Who are ‘you’ and ‘me’ if no breath is lived?

                      

I try enjoying moments. Food, yes I love eating. Just yesterday, as I came upon these lines by Gilbert, I reminisced a day in last winter where I merrily dissolved myself in ‘Memoris of a Geisha’ as I read it on a charpoy basking in the gorgeous winter sun!

Gor…..ge- ous!! …gorgeous….gorgeous…gorge-ous! I can eat words up.

Ever fallen in love with any one word that you could just take into yourself?

Have a gorgeeeeous day ahead ( it’s ok…even if it’s night time;)

Love

Aakriti

P.S: You are the apple to my pie,
        You are the straw to my Berry;) ............listen to Auburn's Perfect two:)

Splendid Saturday!

Something about: Food

 There is something food does to us as we fold those beautiful slippery flat noodles into our silver folk, bring them closer to our desperate lips, look at them in awe with that ravishing green spring onion, perky slender carrots, long thin onions and that crispy capsicum.

This is me with my friend enjoying Pho ( pronunced as Fah)
A Vietnamese traditional dish. Soupy noodles to be precise
But deliciously sinful!

And as this beautiful delight enters our mouth, the magic of taste buds stirs them to the best. The liquid soup texture of noodles and the aroma all add to the taste of the food.

We all know how much time do chefs invest in making their food look presentably delicious. There have been times when I looked at a particular dessert and thought thrice to dig into it simply because I didn’t wish to spoil the beauty of that delicate rich thing!

Savour your food

Appreciate those who cook

For once .experiment with how you cook

A dash of this, a dash of that

If you don’t like any dash

Lose yourself in the aroma of what you had!

Do you live to eat?

Or eat to live?

I wish to make a Cheese Cake Someday! 

PS: Caution: Health Hazard: As much as good looking food is good for our senses, indulging in comfort foods is injurious to health!

PPS: Did the above PS even get registered in our brain? ;)

Happy Weekend!

Baked Macaroni with Cheese:)

Here comes my very first recipe for my Vanilla people to try out.

I made Baked Macaroni with Cheese…and it was yummylicious. Yup!!:)

here's the one I made:)

Ingredients:

·       400gms boiled macaroni ( serves 4)

·       6 cheese cubes ( processed cheese)

·       Diced capsicum ( one big or 2 small)

·       Finely chopped onion ( one)

·       Oregano Sesoning

·       Chilli flakes

·       2-3 bread slices

·       Oil for cooking

·       4-5 garlic cloves ( mash it)

For the white sauce:

·       One cup  milk

·       One table spoon flour

·       Two cheese cubes from the total 6

·       2 tablespoon butter

Method:

1.    In a pan pour some oil, let it heat for a while, then put the mashed fresh garlic, add onions when the garlic turns golden brown.

2.  When the onions begin to change their color, add capsicum, salt ( as per your taste) and pepper, saute it for few mins. If you wish the capsicum to be soft, add few drops of water and cover it for two mins.

3.  Next, add the boiled macaroni into it, toss it nicely, add oregano and chilli flakes.

4.   Then heat the milk and add one table spoon  flour into it, mix it well.

5.  In another pan, add butter, and the milk. Start stirring it slowly. Then to the milk add 2 cubes of grated cheese. Keep stirring until it becomes a li’l thick.

6.   Now to the cooked macaroni, add the white sauce you just made in another pan.

7.  Make sure, the heat is low, and mix the white sauce well into the macaroni. 

If you really feel tempted to eat the macaroni like that, you might as well go ahead...baking adds a different tinge and flavour which you can try some other time as well:)

Baking:

·       After the macaroni is ready, in a pan, add a few drops of oil and lightly fry the bread crumbs into it.

·       Then lightly grease the dish/ baking tin with oil.

·       Add the cooked macaroni. Top it with the crispy fried bread crumbs and grated cheese i.e. 4 cubes.

·       After pre- heating the oven, bake for 15- 20 mins at 250 degrees.

And voila!! Your baked macaroni and cheese is ready 

to be served!!:)

AakritiJ

The Simplicity of Vanilla

The simplicity of Vanilla

Have you ever taken a spoonful of vanilla ice cream and savored it? Ever? Why I question this is because there is something in Vanilla which is special to it. That ‘uniqueness’ which you may not find in any other flavor of ice cream~ And that perhaps is its sheer simplicity.

It just occurred to me that the reason why Vanilla ice cream is the cheapest of the innumerable flavors and exotic desserts you get in an ice cream cart or parlor is because it’s so easy and simple to make. Well I’ll go a step further and say that Vanilla perhaps shares a lot in common with the “common man”. Oh yes!

We all are so simple yet extra- ordinary in our own beautiful ways.  Lost among a variety of flavors we forget that we had that uniqueness in us which others never possessed. We forgot that our common, silly things, the way we act and behave were “our” strengths. Enamored by the beauty and the crunchiness of other flavors like Butterscotch, Caramel and nuts, and the sweetness of the fruits found in Tutty Fruity and Strawberry, we forgot that it was vanilla that started the trend of ice creams.( Go ahead read b/w the lines:)

The most basic of the lot, yet most simple and beautiful- that is Vanilla for you and me.

Off late, I have developed a taste and respect for this flavor, reason being it can

A dinner full of SWEETNESS:)

 Today I just didn’t feel like eating what my mom had cooked for dinner. So off I went to the ice-cream cart to buy a brick of Chocolate Fudge ice cream, and yes I gorged on it, for the very first time. To make it yummier and delicious, I added

My tasty buds;)

Heya peoples...today's its all abouts the foods...Coz I've gone crazy watching sumptuous and gorgeous looking Turkish DELIGHTS, then Mexican food on Fox History channel programs- FOOD SAFARI and David Roco's Dolce Vita.. OMG!! hE IS sOOOO hOTT!! and CooKs aMazingly!!.. So today it's allll about Fued ( oooooood) haha CAUTION : food fights are messy, and shouldn't be engaged in!! Why?? Coz Food is precious and is for the tunmmy, if u wanna play dirty and messy...play Holi!!

First of all on my wish list is to have some delicious Mexican FOOOOOOOOOD:):) 

Here we have tortillas, Salsa dip ( which is super quick and easy to make) and Burritos.and Nachos;) The best part about Mexican cuisine is

A bitter cup of coffee

A bitter cup of coffee

For me coffee has to be sweet. Not that sweet though. I guess, many like to drink coffee that is bitter and strong. I ‘guess’ ( I’m not generalizing).

I just finished drinking my sweet cup of full milk coffee. I drink coffee like flavored chocolate powder added to milk .  I know that’s not how one makes or perhaps even drinks a coffee, but well, beating coffee with sugar and then pouring hot milk and a bit of water into it is a coffee, I reserve it for special occasions or when I have ample of time in my life.

Anyways, As I finished drinking my coffee, I reached for the last sip,

which was nothing but bitter. And so this post inspired my all-sugar-bitter-in-the end-cuppa coffee.

As often the case with coffee is, that one likes it to be strong, bitter, and the preferred assortments with it might vary from honey or choco- chip cookies to bourbon, and voila, it adds a dose of sweetness to your rejuvenating cup full of energy and relaxation.  

Our life too perhaps is like that bitter cup of coffee. While some like to drink it, others like to have their sugary assortments with it, and if the likes of me exist, they add li’l sugar in the coffee and eat bourbon biscuits along with it tooJ.

Surely life is not a baby roller coaster to take a ride on. But with age the speed, the highs and the lows just get more exciting.

If only in those bitter moments, we could taste and enjoy sweetness the way we do when we enjoy coffee with cookies,

But the “bitterness” gives you a kick, a start for a new day, a new moment. You know why?

Coz, bitter coffee ‘enlivens’ your dead spirit, gives you a high, which perhaps sweetness cannot!:) (Read between the lines, you’ll get what I’m saying)

WHO BAKES A CAKE ON THEIR OWN BIRTHDAY??

The other day as I surfed through blogs, I happened to see one blog in which the girl had made a list of certain things, one of the points read as “Who bakes a cake on their own birthday??” The way that girl said it felt as if she was saddened by the fact that none of her friends baked a cake for her or got it for her on her B -day!!

This made me thinking. I thought that till date no one had ever baked a cake for me on my birthday (my mom didn't know how to bake, and my friends who do know never baked a cake for me or for that matter got it for me). But even before this thought could sadden me, it vanished as it came!! You know why?? It is because

foodie's DELIGHT;)

Dear All...

For quite sometime I 've been getting tempted, lured, and called for?Well, not that I'm in GREAT DEMAND, but it's the food bloggers and the way they write, the way they cook and the way they share their wonderful, scintillating recipes that makes me crave to take a bite into that soft delicious looking Tibetan momos, or dig into the sinful Pastry cake or chocolate cake, or for a change go to the kitchen and make myself a healthy salad!!!! wow!!What a feel do our taste buds get when they are pampered.They bless us even more than anyone could by asking for more heavenly bites of, be it kadhai chicken or kabab rolls!!

My love for food knows no bounds, and considering the way I have been feeling and thinking for quite some time, I have a feeling I might start a new food blog of mine! but that will be too much work!

I'm ready to do that bit if people are ready to be my fan even before I start;)

I, personally am not too great a cook, but loooooove to cook, to go through recipes, to imagine cooking such beautiful delicacies which people cannot stop raving about.

ONE OF MY FAVORITES IS "PANEER" or cheese as you call it.And I SIMPLY LOVE experimenting with paneer. Till now I HAVE COOKED paneer bhurji (which is quite easy to cook), kadhai paneer, creamy rich paneer, paneer-tikka-kind of paneer!

One evening, when guests had to come over at our place for dinner, and mom wasn't too well, I went ahead and somehow managed to make a complete dinner including my favorite creamy rich paneer. To my surprise, there was nothing left for me and my mom to have later:P...and considering the fact that I both love making and eating paneer, I was startled. But my happiness knew no bounds.

Anyone who loves to cook would agree with me, that the best ever compliment you can get without even a word being said to you is when there is actually "NOTHING" left for you!!haha:D

Another best spice which I love in the kitchen and consider it as a must have is OREGANO. This Italian herb is magical in itself. The way it transforms a boring recipe into something delicious and tasty is something I admire about.I have added oregano in pizzas, pastas, macaroni, omlettes,and sandwiches and TILL DATE, it has never ever disappointed my 'always-like-being-pampered taste buds'.

Before I end today let me share what all do I LOVE TO EAT:

1. PANEER;)

2. SUBS ( they are just so healthy, delicious and give you a refreshing feeling with every bite that you take:D)

3. GARLIC CHICKEN WITH NOODLES.

4. KADHAI CHICKEN WITH HOT, CRISP TANDOORI ROTIS

5. MIXED VEGETABLE KI SUBZI (I simply love the colorful looking veggies and the way they blend with each other to give you a beautiful taste, have it with curd and roti...yummm)

6. MOMOS (chicken momos, and QD'S (if u are in Delhi) CHICKEN TANDOORI MOMOS-makes you go to heaven even before u actually wish to;)

7.MY HAND COOKED PASTA:)

8. GOBHI KE PARANTHAS- the way my mom makes them.typical PUNJABI STYLE. big, huge and heavy. With the butter melting on top,I sit in the balcony on a nice sunny winter morning,AND VOILA!! what a breakfast!

9.HYDERABADI CHICKEN BIRYANI- This is one recipe to fall for, and what I have heard, if one really wants to make an authentic biryani, it takes not less than 2 hours.Someday I will achieve this feat too:)

10.Finally....nothing can beat the prashad we hindus make on the day of Ashtami, after the navratras- puri, chole and halwa!!- A treat in itself!!:)

If i do not stop right here I might even start writing a list of MY FAV desserts. Perhaps in the next post!!

till then

keep eating. keep living!!!

love

Aakriti

The sweetness of the taste buds

A scoop of vanilla ice cream, few nuts, raisins sprinkled over, a glassful of hot dripping liquid chocolate, some dark chocolate grated over it, and a whip of cream!! Here is how it looks. Next step, you look at it lovingly! You are so much in love with the way your hot chocolate fudge looks that you have no clue of the hustle bustle that goes around you. You then go ahead, take the spoon and dig into it, slowly as the spoon moves towards your hungry lips and fluttering heart that yearns for a splash of sweetness, you close your eyes, and gently the ice cream, the chocolate, the raisins and the nuts all start bathing in the sinful and the gorgeous taste of it, and you feel rested, as if you were getting a chocolate massage. Your heart slowly settles itself into the depths of the hot chocolate and the coolness of the vanilla ice cream. Your eyes don’t feel like opening, and if they do, all they yearn for is the sight of an extravagant looking dessert you just ordered!

I never thought I could write such a beautiful description. Well, as a matter of fact I just did! And perhaps what made me write this is the love for sweets, desserts. And no matter how guilty you feel at the end of the day for having subjected yourself to the lure of the colorful fruit truffle or the dark aberrant chocolate truffle cake or simply a delicious looking, topped with dry fruits, piping hot Moong dal ka halwa, no person can ever snatch from you the blissful state of yours when you gorged on and ‘lived’ that very moment of feeling content. Swimming in the dips of sugar, with saffron colored moong dal ka halwa melting in your mouth oh! So smoothly as if it just wanted to be tasted by someone who had always loved and appreciated every single thing about it-its texture, its taste, its color and lingering sweetness.

I also recall having Wenger’s butterscotch pastry, its chocolate truffle cake, but what I vividly wish to recall is its creamy fruit cake laden with fresh, bright and colorful kiwis, strawberries, pineapples and the crispness of little white chocolate. I happened to taste it on my friend’s birthday and immediately fell in love with the taste.

Blessed are the people who make such delightful and tempting desserts that people like me, even if on a diet, can easily cross the line-of- SELF CONTROL, go to the other side have all the pleasure in digging into the desserts one could have, come back and say to others-“Well, they look lovely, I wonder how they taste, but surely I can make out they are more than a worth having a BITE for!!”;)

Go ahead people, enjoy life and feel BLESSED!! And love the ‘foods which make your life worth “living” for’. I live to eat, do you eat to live or LIVE TO EAT too??